More from TWITMWU
December 19, 2008 – 10:26 pmTwo more snips from TWITMWU, and a bit more context: it’s a sci-fi story, and one of the groups in the world that it’s based in is an isolated subculture of the intellectual elite – almost like an academic Amish. Children that grow up in that culture are required to participate in an extreme Rumspringa variant, leaving their hyperrational society for a time so that they can decide whether or not they want to return as adults. This is what Emmy is in the middle of doing.
Currently in Emmy’s mind was a series of if-else statements detailing acceptable periods of roaming before different methods of going to her grandparents’ house kicked in. If bus does not arrive within 18 minutes, hail taxi. If taxi does not appear on main street within 7 minutes, call taxi dispatcher. Multiple map overlays with various efficiencies of routes depending on the time of day and average expected traffic. And then: if lodging negotiations unsuccessful, repeat transport process to hostel by Fenway Park, purchase two hotdogs for dinner, cost $15.85 with tax.
Another bit. This one is Paul thinking; he’s the high-school dropout son of a brilliant theoretical physicist who had a breakdown several years before the story starts; much of the attention of Paul’s father’s is consequently devoted to caring for Paul’s mother.
If you showed up stone-faced but swaying on your feet, propped up by coffee, it was proof positive that you were on fire for something, even if you didn’t show much of it otherwise. That was the way of it. You poured your life out away from people in the world and towards the things you thought would serve them better than your presence. Or alternatively, you pointed your mad scrabbles towards something that would be less damaged by the riot.
There is, of course, more backstory/context than I’m showing now. ;) The entire thing started out as a challenge from DJ for me to write a love story. I took him up on it, noting that a love story didn’t have to mean a romance – there are plenty of things that someone can love, not just another person.
2 Responses to “More from TWITMWU”
There is you in both Emmy and Paul. I read this entry after I read your “It’s Hard to be Aware of Things” post.
You should keep writing this novel. Can publish it under a pseudonym or not. The premise or context of the story is intriguing. I think it is much more interesting than Twilight’s context: vampire and mortals. I would like to read the whole story of Emmy and Paul.
So do you think I had a good sense of Emmy and Paul based only on the snippet you provided? One writes from one’s own experiences and observation, and you certainly know the world in which Emmy and Paul live. Have you imagined yourself being a part of a world like that of Emmy and Paul? Cannot help but note the connection between you and Paul – what you said about caring and Paul being stone-faced and “you were on fire for something.” As for Emmy, it is like you discovering the larger world outside of Glenview. Or somewhat like that. You have to know it in your heart to be able to write the way you do. Take care of yourself, my dear. You know where to find me when you need to explode or when you just need to be with someone who has known you since you were small.
By 5-ee on Dec 20, 2008
Good stuff. I’d really like to read this story when it’s finished.
By L33tminion on Dec 20, 2008